## Facts

- Kenneth and Paula Geraghty married in New York in 1986.
- In 1990, the couple moved to Massachusetts.
- In 2008, they moved to New Hampshire and purchased property there.
- In 2013, Paula filed a petition for divorce in a New Hampshire trial court.
- In 2015, Kenneth responded by filing a petition seeking an annulment based on fraud.
- Kenneth alleged that Paula had concealed that she engaged in prostitution and used illegal drugs before the marriage.
- Kenneth argued that New York law, rather than New Hampshire law, should govern the annulment question.
- The trial court entered a divorce decree, ruled that New Hampshire law applied, and concluded that Kenneth’s allegations did not provide a sufficient basis for annulment.
- Kenneth appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether New Hampshire law or New York law governs a New Hampshire divorce proceeding and a spouse’s request for annulment based on alleged premarital fraud when the marriage was celebrated in New York but the parties later became New Hampshire domiciliaries.
2. Whether a spouse’s alleged concealment of premarital prostitution and illegal drug use constitutes fraud sufficient under New Hampshire law to annul a marriage.

## Decision

- The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed.
- The court held that New Hampshire law governed the parties’ marital-status dispute because New Hampshire had the strongest interest in determining the marital status of spouses domiciled within the state and seeking relief in its courts.
- The court held that, even if Kenneth’s allegations were true, concealment of premarital prostitution and illegal drug activity did not amount to the type of fraud that justifies annulment under New Hampshire law.
- Because the allegations did not warrant annulment, the trial court properly dissolved the marriage through divorce.

## Legal Principles

- A state may apply its own law to determine marital status and dissolution when the spouses are domiciled in that state and invoke its courts, even if the marriage occurred in another state.
- Under New Hampshire law, annulment for fraud is reserved for fraud that goes to the essentials of the marriage relationship—misconduct that defeats the core purpose of the marital contract.
- Misrepresentations or nondisclosures about premarital moral misconduct or criminal behavior, without more, generally do not constitute the essential type of fraud required to void a marriage in New Hampshire.
- When alleged deceit does not satisfy the fraud standard for annulment, divorce—not annulment—is the proper remedy for ending the marriage.

## Conclusion

In *Matter of Geraghty*, the New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed a divorce decree and the denial of annulment, holding that New Hampshire law controlled because the parties were New Hampshire domiciliaries litigating their marital status in New Hampshire, and that alleged concealment of premarital prostitution and drug use did not constitute fraud going to the essentials of the marriage under New Hampshire annulment law.


Matter of Geraghty, 150 A.3d 386 (2016)